A year ago or so I read a magazine artical where the author tested boat tail vrs flat base bullets reguarding the commonly known idea that boat tails were far more likely to seperate from their cores. His tests using the common non bonded styles showed to be the opposite along with his hunting experience.

Does anyone remember this artical? Which magazine was it and who was the author? Which issue?

Sorry.....I can't help you find that article....but would like to comment on the test.

There's boattails that have no lead in the boattail such as the Nosler BT and there's those that do.....most of Sierra's are that way....and I think some of Hornady's too.

I sure hope the test was with the boattails that included lead in the actual tapered shank.

The findings do not concurr with my personal experience at all.

There was an article in either Handloader or Rifle magazine a year or so back called "Statistical Analysis" or something similar by John Barsness. He didn't do any formal testing of boat-tails vs. flat based that I remember, but he said after digging through his notes compiled through the years that he discovered cup & core flat base bullets actually separated more often than boat-tails and possibly disspelled the myth. Wolfe has a website and you can view the contents of back issues online to find the exact issue the article was in.

-Lou

The only two confirmed cases of jacket seperation I witnessed with my own rifles were in fact flat bases. A 7mm 154gr. Hornady Iloc and a 25 cal 117 gr. Sierra Game Pro. It may of happened with others but the only two times I've recovered the sperated bullet was with these.

Thats as far as I'll go to back up the author's claims.

quote:

Originally posted by Lou270:
There was an article in either Handloader or Rifle magazine a year or so back called "Statistical Analysis" or something similar by John Barsness. He didn't do any formal testing of boat-tails vs. flat based that I remember, but he said after digging through his notes compiled through the years that he discovered cup & core flat base bullets actually separated more often than boat-tails and possibly disspelled the myth. Wolfe has a website and you can view the contents of back issues online to find the exact issue the article was in.

-Lou

Bingo!!

Thanks!

quote:

Wolfe has a website and you can view the contents of back issues online to find the exact issue the article was in.

Wolfe??

What should I google to find this website?

Try this link.

http://www.riflemagazine.com/home/index.cfm?CFID=269190&CFTOKEN=97108600

Thanks you.

Here's the issue:

http://www.riflemagazine.com/magazine/index.cfm?magid=94

I also saw a different test where the results were the same. When shot into media the BTs held the core better than the FBs. Penetration was roughly the same, the BTs may have had just a hair more.

It is pretty interesting.

Reloader

Hey Boilerroom, Here is a link to an article that appeared in Handloader where bullets of all kinds were tested and compared for Expansion, Weight Retention and Penetration.

Some choose to argue with the results because they were done in wet phone books. For what it is worth I've found the results to be very close to what I've witnessed first-hand on Game with a good many of those bullet designs.

http://www.seahook.com/bestbullet.jpg

The actual Chart was still available the last time I checked from Mr. Sciuchetti.

gsciuchetti@yahoo.com

Gary D. Sciuchetti
14610 E. Bill Gulch Road
Mead, WA 99021

It is the most comprehensive and best done Bullet Test I've seen in civilian hands.

Hot Core,

From looking at that chart it pretty much proves that your basic cup-n-core bullets by Speer, Nosler, Hdy, etc. perform pretty much the exact same. And there's always disagreements between us hunters on which one is better . Oh well, if we all had the same opinions, same rifles, and same gear This would be a pretty boring forum.

Have a Good One.

Reloader

In my experience, all cup-and-core bullets tend to separate -- not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. After all, something has got to cause trauma if you expect an animal to be disabled relatively quickly following the shot.

The jackets of flat base bullets have a greater tendancy to end up close to the lead core; in other words, they do not separate as quickly nor to a great a degree as is typical with boattails, at least when comparing otherwise similar bullets from the same manufacturer.

Nosler Solid Base bullets, whether lead or plastic tipped, have a hunk of jacket material in the base section that includes the modest boattail area. Their internal jacket shape surrounding the lead core is more like that of most flat base bullets than like most boattails, so they not only tend to perform (terminally) more like flat bases, but also tend to penetrate somewhat deeper due to the solid base.

Overall, the perfomance difference between conventional cup-and-core flats and boats is unremarkable, but the most significant instances of inappropriate core separatioons most often shows up in boattails.

quote:

The jackets of flat base bullets have a greater tendancy to end up close to the lead core; in other words, they do not separate as quickly nor to a great a degree as is typical with boattails, at least when comparing otherwise similar bullets from the same manufacturer.

Did you do some research to come up with this theory?

quote:

Originally posted by Reloader:
...From looking at that chart it pretty much proves that your basic cup-n-core bullets by Speer, Nosler, Hdy, etc. perform pretty much the exact same. ...

Excellent observation.

The more experience a person gains with the various "Standard Grade" bullet Design Envelopes, the more that becomes clear.
---

Did you happen to notice the Rem RN? For what it is worth, I suspect the ones he tested are from a very old Lot when they were "Wasp Waisted" internally. Remington then made them straight inside for a long time and I do believe they are going back to some of their better designs today. You just don't know what it is by looking at the outside.

Plus some "new" excellent Standard Grade bullets have been made available since Mr. Sciuchetti did that Test. The trick is to remember that they are "Standard Grade" and use them accordingly.